Jim Ingraham: How Indians position players project the rest of the season

Cleveland Indians' Drew Stubbs, right, celebrates with teammate Jason Kipnis in the dugout after scoring on a Ryan Raburn double during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Cleveland won 4-0. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Before anyone gets too carried away, remember this: After 81 games last year -- the statistical halfway mark of the season -- the Indians' record was 42-39.

After 81 games this year, their record was 43-38.

So the parade committee should probably hold off on commissioning any floats just yet.

What is impressive, however, is that after going a ghostly and ghastly 26-52 in their last 81 games in 2012, en route to a cataclysmic 94-loss season, the Indians started this season 43-38. It took an unexpected win in the free agent managerial lottery, and some major offseason spending to achieve it, but ... here they are.

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Halfway home, and 100 percent in it. The Indians are contenders. For now. For long? Forever? Stay tuned.

They were contenders through 81 games last year, too, and we all know how that turned out.

This year feels different. Here's a position player-by-player assessment, with projected season stats based on the first 81 games, meaning Sunday's game is excluded:

Carlos Santana: He hit .389 in April, tops in the American League, with five home runs and 13 RBI. Since then, he's plunged to .224-5-22. He projects to a 20-homer, 66 RBI season, which would be two more homers and 10 fewer RBI than he had last year. His worst stat: the Indians' major league-high 48 wild pitches. They aren't all his fault, but too many of them are.

Nick Swisher: One of the most consistently productive hitters in the league over the last decade, he projects to 16 homers and 58 RBI this year, well below the level that earned him that $56 million contract.

Jason Kipnis: He faded badly in the second half last season, but so did everyone else on the team. This year, a second-half duplicate of his first half brings him in at around .300 with 24 home runs, 102 RBI, 38 stolen bases and (if the Indians make the playoffs) some MVP votes.

Asdrubal Cabrera: He's on a pace to barely crack 50 RBI and double figures in home runs. The good news is the Indians have hung in there without much from him. The bad news is they've had to.

Mark Reynolds: Talk about as-advertised! Mr. All-Or-Nothing is on a pace for 30 home runs, 92 RBI -- and 190 strikeouts, which would break Jim Thome's club record of 185 set in 2001.

Michael Brantley: His numbers project to .271-10-78, but his value lies in other areas. Maybe the most fundamentally sound player on the roster, he almost never does something that hurts the team.

Michael Bourn: You'd like to see more stolen bases. He projects to 22 for the season after averaging 51 in each of his last five years in the National League. On the plus side, his batting average is up and his strikeouts are down.

Drew Stubbs: One of the better No. 9 hitters in the league (is that a compliment or not?) Really good base runner. Really fast base runner (those two aren't necessarily related), really good defender. Really strikes out a lot -- on pace for 164 -- and really needs to hit more home runs as a tradeoff for all those strikeouts. He's on pace for 12 homers.

Jason Giambi: Amazingly, this seems to be working. He's a full-time DH who can only DH, but at 42 can't be the DH on consecutive days. So he's only on pace for about 200 at-bats, he's only hitting .189, and his presence on the roster prevents Manager Terry Francona from giving good-hit-no-field players such as Santana and Reynolds more at-bats at DH. But Giambi is almost like a player-coach. Great guy. Great leader. That's why, amazingly, this seems to be working.

Ryan Raburn: As a bench player, he's on a pace for 18 home runs, which would have led the Indians last year. He also won an AL Player of the Week Award this year, even though he's not an everyday player. Is that possible? Evidently.

Mike Aviles: One of the reasons the Indians are so much better this year is they might have the best bench in the league, led by Raburn and Aviles, both of whom can play anywhere, play well, sit for several games, and get some big hits when they do play.

Yan Gomes: He has a higher batting average, a higher slugging percentage and is far better defensively than the catcher he is backing up. By next year Gomes should be the starter.

Lonnie Chisenhall: He's hitting .275 with a .308 on-base percentage and .431 slugging percentage vs. right-handers and .069/.100/.207 vs. left-handers. Here's an idea: only play him against right-handers.